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Forming an Image of the
Bard
By
Michael J. Cummings...©
2006.......Scanty
information exists about Shakespeare’s physical characteristics, such as
his height and weight, the timbre of his voice, his gait, and the tone
of his complexion. However, portraits of him and accounts of his activities
allow for educated conjecture about these characteristics. (A
table with links to 24 images of Shakespeare appears below.)
.......It
must be pointed out that none of the portraits qualifies as a verified
likeness of him, for no evidence exists that Shakespeare actually sat for
a portrait. Artists could have executed their portraits from memory or
from descriptions of Shakespeare provided by persons who knew him. Even
the so-called authentic likeness of Shakespeare–the 1623 Martin Droeshout
engraving of him (right) that appeared in the First Folio, the first
published collection of Shakespeare's plays–is suspect. The artist was
only 15 when Shakespeare died in 1616. Apparently, Droeshout completed
the portrait shortly before the First Folio publication. (The work
is on display in the National Portrait Gallery in London.)
.......Complicating
matters is that some renderings of Shakespeare–whether oil paintings, line
engravings, plaster casts, and so on–were altered over time. Nevertheless,
because almost all the surviving images of Shakespeare depict him as having
certain similar features–such as a receding hairline, a mustache, and either
shoulder-length hair or hair reaching to the earlobes–it is possible at
least to speculate about his appearance. Moreover, the activities that
occupied him, such as writing and acting, suggest that he had certain physical
capabilities. Following is a speculative look at Shakespeare's physical
qualities:
Face and Head
Portraits of Shakespeare
depict him with dark brown, reddish, or black hair billowing down to the
lobes of the ears or shoulders and with a carefully trimmed mustache and
a receding hairline. Most of them present him with a closely cropped beard
rising from the chin to the level of the lower lip or to ear level. However,
the 1623 First Folio portrait depicts him without a beard. The facial
features of that portrait differ markedly from those in the other portraits,
such as the John
Sanders Portrait and the John
Soest Stratford Portrait. None of the portraits gives any indication
that Shakespeare had deformities, scars, or other types of disfigurements.
However, the memorial
bust of him in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon indicates
that he may have had a suntanned face.
Weight
Portraits of Shakespeare
(head and shoulders) suggest that he was of average weight. There are no
signs of a double chin or fleshy cheeks. However, a bust of him in Holy
Trinity Church at Stratford-Upon-Avon depicts a stout Shakespeare. The
padded jacket he is wearing could account for the portliness. It is also
possible that he gained weight in his later years or that the artist failed
to depict him as he was.
Voice
Because Shakespeare acted
in his own plays and those of other prominent authors, such as Ben Jonson,
he probably possessed a reasonably good voice. At the Globe Theatre, actors
had to project their voices to 2,000 to 3,000 people, up to 1,000
of whom stood in a yard in front of the stage talking when they became
bored and booing or hissing when the performances displeased them.
Body Movement and Physical
Condition
Because acting required
Shakespeare to walk, gesture, grimace, and use other body language, he
apparently had no serious handicaps that limited his movement or detracted
from his performance. When traveling back and forth between Stratford and
London, he may have ridden a horse. His plays indicate that he had a sportsman's
knowledge of the outdoors. The status of his general health in childhood,
adolescence, and adulthood was probably good or at least adequate, considering
that he was apparently hale enough to meet the demands of being a spouse,
father, writer, actor, and businessman. Whether he was susceptible to frequent
infections is unknown. However, he managed to elude the ravages of the
London plague between 1592 and 1594, a period during which he wrote his
sonnets. Working in the theatre must have placed heavy demands on him,
for he presented his plays not only at the Globe
Theatre but also at inns, courtyards, royal palaces, and private residences.
He was also a co-owner of the Globe. There can be little doubt that his
brain functioned well in terms of intellectual undertakings. After all,
several of his plays–including Hamlet,
King Lear, Othello, Macbeth, and The Tempest–rank
at the top of the list of greatest dramas in English literature.
Hands and Arms
Shakespeare wrote his plays
with a quill dipped in ink. Therefore, he probably had at least one good
hand and arm–and considering what has been already said about his required
movements as an actor–probably two good hands and arms. He had five digits
on both hands, according to the sculpture in the church.
Eyes
By lamplight or the natural
light of often-misty London days, Shakespeare had to write, read, and memorize
to meet his responsibilities as a writer, an actor, and a businessman.
It is likely, therefore, that his eyesight was adequate into middle age.
However, it is possible that his eyesight began to fail him in his forties.
In most adults, visual acuity declines in the middle years, frequently
as a result of presbyopia, a condition marked by reduced ability of the
lens of the eye to bring close objects into focus. Presbyopia is a form
a farsightedness, characterized by the ability to see distant objects better
than near ones. In Shakespeare’s day, eyeglasses were available to correct
both farsightedness and nearsightedness (the ability to see near objects
better than distant ones). It was the invention of the printing press,
and the consequent publication of books in the mid-15th Century, that created
a market for eyeglasses. Whether Shakespeare developed presbyopia or any
other eye condition is unknown. If he did develop an eye condition, it
is possible that the optical technology of his day was advanced enough
to remedy it. On the other hand, if the technology was inadequate, Shakespeare
would have had difficulty reading and writing. Scholars have always been
puzzled by why Shakespeare decided to retire in his late forties. Could
it be that he suffered from an untreatable eye condition? That possibility
exists.
.
...Table
of Portraits and Sculptures
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